The five string banjo was developed from other types of banjos from Europe, but the addition of the 5th string was unique to America. The banjo made an important instrument to be used on the western trails as wagon trains moved across our vast country. All the inhabitants would purchase supplies before setting out on their journey and buy some instrument to play along the tracks. The banjo was a light and easy instrument to play and made a natural addition to the supplies. It is likely that the banjo was purchased for tuning and the additional strings were probably purchased at the same time to replace broken, broken, or old strings purchased along the way. The colonist already knew how to tune and tune instruments but accurate electronic tuners were not around at that time. They may have a fork coat or some sort of “pitch pipe”, but the lack of ability to walk quickly becomes apparent. The wagon is not easy to ride and changes in temperature, from day to night, are often extreme. The tools quickly diverge. For this reason banjo players played their instrument the best they could, sometimes it wasn’t a “flag” hit. There are over 25 common ways to tune the 5 string banjo and many less common ways.
The 5th chord is so high in pitch that it’s technically at the “pedal point” meaning that if this chord is played, it’s often hard to tell if it’s being tuned with other notes before or after it. In many forms of playing the 5 string banjo, this note is played about 1/3 of the time. Because there are not actually many fingers, these leaves are only four strings, so that it is possible to place the fingers after the previous ones. A 5 string banjo can be made as a “long neck” or a standard neck. The long neck version gives you more heat at the top end so that the player can use the capo in more places and this can change the key quickly to another key while keeping the same finger.
play some 5 string banjo, but not as much as guitar The finger patterns reading what I use on the guitar only translate directly to patterns that are usually played on the banjo. The syncopation of the banjo is a little different. music theory is directly related to guitar and banjo. There is a special capo that can be used on the 5th string of the banjo string. I used to test a music store to see how good they were by asking them if they had a 5th string banjo capo. If they knew they were good enough, if they had one they would be great. Once when I was in Denver Colorado I went into a small music store and asked and they said “We have two types – what type do you want. ” And what a surprise. I actually ended up taking some guitar lessons there, acting there, and I had a great time.
Graphically shows some of the most common 5 string banjo chords. Hope is useful.
